The month of March is Women's History Month; this year, we not only have International Women's Day on 8 March but also the UK's Mother's Day on 30 March. For midwives, these days mark celebrations of the women you care for, and also your friends, family, colleagues and, for many of you, yourselves.
International Women's Day (2025) was first held in March 1911. The theme for this year is ‘accelerate action’, highlighting the importance of ‘taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality’ (International Women's Day, 2025). The theme encourages everyone to support groups and organisations across the world that work to help women and girls. For our regular readers, the British Journal of Midwifery's own charity spotlight section has hopefully raised your awareness of some of the charitable organisations that you could support as part of this call to action, such as the WONDER Foundation (Majérus and Oshiyemi, 2024) or Break the Silence (Belshaw, 2024).
On 30 March, people across the UK will celebrate Mother's Day, a tradition that originated in the Middle Ages, when people who had moved away from their home town would return to visit their ‘mother’ church on the fourth Sunday of Lent (BBC News, 2024). In Britain, this developed into Mothering Sunday, now known as Mother's Day.
For many of you, Mother's Day is a joyful celebration of the mothers in your lives, whether they are your own mothers, your friends and family or yourselves. But for some people, it is unfortunately true that the day may elicit more complex emotions, for example for those who have lost their mother or their child. As highlighted in this issue's literature review, pregnancy loss can have profound effects and is often shaped by the support received in such a difficult time (Freitas et al, 2025). As celebrations are held across the country, it is important to remember those who may struggle at this time, and offer support if you can. Once again, our charity spotlight section has previously highlighted organisations that help to support mothers, families and healthcare professionals in this area, such as Sands (Patel and Clark, 2024) and 4Louis (Knight, 2024).
Whether you are involved in celebrations this March or not, I hope you will take some time during the month to think about the wonderful women who shape your lives. Let's take the time to reach out, support one another and celebrate what makes us all special.